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Recently, the journal *Inorganic Chemistry*, published by the American Chemical Society, released new findings from the Nuclear Energy Radiochemical Laboratory at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study introduces a groundbreaking approach using novel tetradentate phenanthroline diamide ligands for efficient and selective extraction of actinides (Xiao Chengliang, Chai Zhifang*, Shi Weiqun*, et al., Inorg. Chem., 2014, ASAP).
Nuclear waste produced during nuclear power generation, especially long-lived actinides, is a critical issue in the nuclear fuel cycle. The Partition & Transmutation strategy aims to maximize fuel utilization while significantly reducing the toxicity and volume of nuclear waste. However, separating trivalent lanthanides and actinides remains a major challenge due to their similar chemical properties, making this one of the most complex problems in high-level radioactive waste treatment.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Nuclear Energy Pilot Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Radiochemistry has been conducting extensive research since 2011 on nitrogen-containing heterocyclic soft ligands and oxygen-containing amide phosphine ligands. Their studies, based on density functional theory, have provided key insights into the interaction mechanisms between cations and lanthanides. One of their early discoveries was that the solvation of metal ions may play a crucial role in determining their selectivity (Inorg. Chem, 2011, 50: 9230; J. Phys. Chem. A, 2012, 116: 504; Coord. Chem. Rev, 2012, 256: 1406; Inorg. Chem, 2013, 52: 196; Inorg. Chem, 2013, 52: 10904).
Building on these findings, the laboratory recently introduced a novel "soft and hard atom binding" strategy, leading to the development of phenanthroline diamide ligands (DAPhen) with exceptional selectivity for different valence states of lanthanide ions (Inorg. Chem, 2014, ASAP). Solvent extraction experiments demonstrated that DAPhen exhibits remarkable extraction efficiency for trivalent, tetravalent, and hexavalent lanthanide cations, while showing minimal affinity for trivalent lanthanides. This enables effective separation of lanthanides from actinides.
In a 1.0 M nitric acid solution, the separation factors were measured as STh(IV)/Eu(III) = 2209, SU(VI)/Eu(III) = 264, and SAm(III)/Eu(III) = 65. These results represent the most efficient extraction system for lanthanide elements reported in the literature to date, and it holds great potential for application in the separation of lanthanoid elements in high-level radioactive waste streams.
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